Twenty-Two Die In Lao New Year Road Carnage

Source: Vientiane Times

In just the three days of the Lao New Year holiday 159 road accidents occurred across the country resulting in 22 fatalities with incidents of drunk driving and speeding higher than ever.

According to statistics from the Traffic Police Department of Ministry of Public Security, from April 14-16 there were 159 road accidents nationwide in which 286 people were injured, 281 vehicles damaged and 22 people died.

However, compared to the same period last year, the number of accidents decreased from 207 to 159 accidents and the number of fatalities also decreased from 23 to 22.

Vientiane still topped the list of road accidents nationwide during Pi Mai Lao celebrations with 32 accidents that resulted in five people dying and 48 people sustaining injuries.

This year drinking and driving was recognised as being a major cause of accidents along with speeding.

The majority of fatalities involved young people, motorbikes colliding with pickup trucks and occurred around midnight or during the early hours of the morning.

However, the number of road accidents decreased this year because traffic police strictly enforced road regulations especially targeting drunk driving with offenders to be re-educated and fined according to the law.

Meanwhile, in Thailand from April 11-16, Songkran road accidents killed 335 people and injured 3,506 others with the highest number of accidents and injuries in Chiang Mai province and the biggest death toll in Nakhon Ratchasima, according to the Bangkok Post website.

Road accidents in Myanmar saw a total of 285 people killed and 1,073 others injured nationwide during the four-day water festival (April 13-16), according to the Xinhua news agency website. This represented 13 more than last year when 272 people were killed and 1,086 injured.